Minutes from August 08, 2008

INTERSERVICE FAMILY ASSISTANCE COMMITTEE (ISFAC)
Thursday, 21 Aug 08, 10:00–3:00 at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Carrington

Facilitator: Davina French
Chairperson: Shelly Sizer
Special Guests: Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Dave Thiele and Pastor Bruce Vold

Members Present: Tom Slaughter, Stephen Holmes, Bill Heigaard, Corean Swart, Angie Christensen, Jane Johnson, Michelle Schock, Marilyn Rohrer, Gary Simmons, Janet Nitschke, Kristi Fetsch, Alana Knudson, Naomi Lelm, Mary Sims, Amy Gunkleman, Dave Seifert and Shelle Michaels.

Minutes taken by Shelle Michaels

Open:

Davina opened the ISFAC meeting at 10:10 a.m. with everyone going around the table and introducing themselves as there were many new faces in the room.

Our dear friend and ISFAC member, Dean Newton died on July 11, 2008. Shelly Sizer sent flowers to his funeral for $75.00 from the ISFAC. She asked if the current funds in the kitty could be used to pay for the flowers, which was unanimously voted yes.

Recap of May Meeting:

• Alana talked about the$10 million grant for the Rural Health Resource Center Project. Additional information will be made available in the first edition of the ISFAC newsletter coming soon!
• Jane mentioned that 39 family members of fallen Soldiers and staff from ND attended the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) in Washington, DC over the Memorial Day weekend.
• Heigard followed up on this stating that Earl Pomeroy has contacted the Governor’s office with the request for additional funding to assure that all families of the fallen heroes attend TAPS in 2009.

TAPS is America’s front line resource for all who are grieving the death of a loved one serving in the Armed Forces. Since 1994, TAPS has provided comfort and care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Its comprehensive services include a national network of peer-based emotional support, case work assistance, crisis intervention, and grief and trauma resources. To date, TAPS has assisted more than 25,000 surviving family members, casualty officers, and caregivers. All services provided by TAPS are free of charge to surviving families and are made possible by the generosity of our donors.

More information on the TAPS program is available:
National: www.taps.org
North Dakota: www.ndguard.com/family/default.asp?ID=575
North Dakota Guard Fallen Heroes: www.ndguard.com/army/default.asp?ID=665

• Shelle reported that approximately 1000 soldiers, families and community members participated in the first 1-188th ADA Memorial March held on June 6, 2008 in Grand Forks, Fargo and Bismarck. Overall there has been great feedback received. We still have a handful of Memorial tee shirts left over if any one wants to purchase one for $5. ShelleMichaels@msn.com
• Mary recapped the success of the Navy Family Day this summer, again, another successful event. Mary also will be leaving to go to Norfolk Virginia, so this meeting was her final one on the ND ISFAC.

Future events across the state for the next quarter:

• August 28 @ the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, the GF/EFG Chamber of Commerce is hosting Military Appreciation Night at the UND vs. Texas A & M football game. Dinner is served at 4:30 p.m. with a short ceremony – game time is 7 p.m. 700 tickets have been allotted for, if by chance all these tickets are dispersed, military personnel may show their ID at the box office to gain entrance to the game. For more information: info@gochamber.org or call your Family Assistance Center.
• September 11, 2008 – 9-11 Ceremony at the International Peace Garden at 11 a.m. Dr. Earl Beal. Professor of Counseling at UND will be the keynote speaker. Emily Custer will sing her Thank You song (www.emilycuster.com). The ceremony will be followed by an America Supports You Freedom Walk through the garden. Contact Shelle Michaels for more information.
• September 11, 2008 – Dickinson FRG meeting at 7 p.m. Contact Pastor Steve for more information.
• September 13, 2008- Freedom Salute for the NDARNG 164 MP BN in Minot at the Fairgrounds auditorium. Contact the NDNG FAC for more information.
• September 18, 2008- Central Dakota Stand Down in Bismarck AMVETS from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• October 5th, 2008- Freedom Salute for the NDARNG 817th SAPPERS in Jamestown. Contact the NDNG FAC for more information.
• October 11, 2008- Family Day at the North Dakota Air National Guard Base. Contact Jody Harms for more information.
• October 26, 2008- 3rd Annual Day of the Deployed. Contact Shelle Michaels for more information. (Attached is the copy of the proclamation sent to Governor Hoeven.
• FRG Volunteer Training Dates in Bismarck (17-19 Oct 08), Fargo (23-25 Jan 09), Grand Forks (17-19 Apr 09), and Minot (12-14 Jun 09).


Presentation:

Davina talked about the ISFAC focus is about 90% on reintegration issues in the state at this point. Many issues surrounding quality of life and family well-being can only be addressed by states. Much progress has been made on several of these key issues. Currently, efforts are being focused on spouse employment, including unemployment compensation for transferring military spouses, in-state tuition allowances, financial readiness, education, and the pressing needs of severely injured Service members and their families. Many state leaders share our concern for the welfare of our Active Duty, Guard, and Reserve service members and their families living within their borders, and we look forward to making significant progress in the future. For more information visit www.usa4militaryfamilies.dod.mil

There are 6 key areas that we looked at:
Family Support
Educational Benefits
License and Registration Benefits
Tax and Financial Breaks
State Employee Benefits
Protection

As for care of the Guard and Reserve, North Dakota ranks as meeting 2-3 of the 6 criteria noted. Although they don’t state what ND is connecting with, we feel we have a lot more going for our state than this implies.

We reviewed the background on the NGA Center for Best Practices. Page by page, there were several unique things pointed out that other states are doing. ND is the only one that has ISFAC listed, and we also felt this did not cover many of the highlights of support that we really do have in the state.

Community Covenant:

Presented by Janet Nitschke, Family Readiness Coordinator, Army National Guard

The Army Community Covenant is designed to develop and foster effective state and community partnerships with the Army in improving the quality of life for Soldiers and their Families, both at their current duty stations and as they transfer from state to state.
The Army Community Covenant is tailored at the local level, with leaders at both local and state levels participating in covenant signings, planned between April and December 2008, recognizing the strength of Army Soldiers and their Families and the support of their local Community.

Janet is currently looking for individuals and groups to assist her in having these covenants put into place across the state of ND.

There was discussion about how it could be a military covenant for some communities such as Fargo, GF and Minot that have Air Guard and Air Force, Fargo with the Navy as well and Wahpeton with the Marines. Janet is looking into the possibilities.

More information is available: http://www.acsim.army.mil/community_covenant/

ISFAC Newsletter/Logo:

Presented by Shelle Michaels, National Communication Officer for Soldiers’ Angels.

This publication would provide a comprehensible and unbiased overview of ISFAC developments.

ISFAC FACTS- (Proposed Name)
Editor- Shelle Michaels, Soldiers’ Angels
Color: Red, White and Blue
Logo: (DEVELOPED)

1. Audience
• ISFAC members
• ND service members
• ND service members families
• ND Residents – awareness
• Various ND government entities
• Others interested in the progress of the mission of ISFAC.

2. Content
Regular sections:
• Quarterly Meeting Review
• 4 month calendar of upcoming ISFAC meetings and state wide events, education activities etc.
• Recap for each service and various entities
• Other sections to be determined.

Topical articles:
• Longer article introducing reader to one particular subject, including possible implementations, applications, implications for the user etc.
• Any hot topics currently discussed in the ISFAC
• Developments
• Brief tutorials
• Human interest

3. Format/Frequency
The newsletter will be published after the Quarterly ISFAC meeting

• September 1, 2008
• December 1, 2008
• March 1, 2009
• June 1, 2009

Available electronically via PDF format.

The core group would have access to the newsletter in the proofing process to make additions or corrections to have the most polished outcome. Prior to distribution, the newsletter will be e-mailed to the facilitator and Chairperson for final review prior to publication.

Group members that have articles to submit, must submit them in copy ready; edited as closely as possible- subject to furthering editing due to space.

4. Sources of information
This publication requires direct involvement from the ISFAC members.
Various parts would be submitted by different members.

5. Publication- Online on various group websites.
The newsletter discussion supported the need for ISFAC to get information out to the state. The logo is liked for the simplicity; however, the committee would like to see what it would look like with the seals of the 5 military branches.

We will use the 5 seals in the newsletter.
Motion made by Steve to accept the newsletter and logo – 2nd by Tom- motion passed.

First newsletter will be out on October 1, 2008. If you have anything you would like to see in this first edition, please email shellemichaels@msn.com no later than 25 Sep.

Lunch was offsite at the lovely Carrington Pizza Ranch.

Charter Development:

The ISFAC members broke into 3 groups and reviewed the proposed draft charter and made suggestions they would like to see made in the charter. We briefly discussed these suggestions and Davina will update.

2-1-1 ND Get Connected:

Presented by Susan Rae Helgeland, Executive Director of Mental Health America of ND

Maj. Wilz had the vision of 211 ND to also have a military resource section and several members have been working on this taskforce to see this to fruition. 211 ND has been available for 4 years in ND- There's always an answer. 211 is free, confidential and 24/7. It connects people in the state to services available. There is an online version of the powerpoint available at www.211nd.org.

Current concerns the 211 ND is addressing is deadzones in the state for cell phone calls. This does not affect landline use, and 211 ND also has a back up through FirstLink, so if the system goes down, the services are still available through 211.

LTC Dave Thiele mentioned that this system should be up with the military additions around October 1, 2008.

ISFAC Goals/Task Development/Actions Plans:

Ø Logo Tweaking- Shelle
Ø Newsletter- Shelle
Ø Charter – Davina will update the changes and we will continue to work on the charter in November.
Ø Website research- Naomi, Tom, Janet
Ø Strategic Plans/Best Practices – Davina, Alana, Steve, Corean, Jane and LTC Thiele

Next Meeting Date- November 13, 2008
10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Grand Forks Air Force Base
John Hanson and Thomas Slaughter will host this meeting.


Special thanks to Trinity Lutheran Church, Pastor Bruce Vold, and Corean Swart for their wonderful hospitality.